104 SALT-WATER FISHES 



lying in ambush like Lophius, and attracting small fishes within 

 reach of its mouth, but this has not been verified by actual 

 observation in the aquarium. It is taken on our coasts 

 measuring over 5 ft. in length, and small examples of from 

 12 to 18 in. are common in many south coast estuaries, 

 notably at Teignmouth, where a few are brought ashore 

 almost every week during May in the sand-eel seines 

 worked just outside the bar. Flat-fishes are said to form the 

 favourite food of the monk-fish, and it is also said to feed 

 on lobsters and whelks. Its teeth, which lie in several rows, 

 are sharp enough to catch the former, though hardly adapted, it 

 would seem, to crush the latter. It must be a slow-swimming 

 fish, for its fins are spineless and comparatively small, and the 

 anal fin is lacking. The eye lacks the nictitant membrane found 

 in many sharks, but is capable of being closed by a somewhat 

 different arrangement of skin. The monk-fish is also thought 

 to possess a keen sense of hearing, and there are rudimentary 

 external ears. In colour it is dark brown or dark grey above, 

 with variable spots or blotches, and white beneath. 



THE RAYS {Batoidei) 



The rays now regarded as British are fourteen in number, 

 and to these also, as to the sharks, an addition was made in 

 recent years by the recognition of Raia blanda as a species 

 (distinct from R. maculatd) by Holt and Calderwood in 1895. 



The following list of British rays is given for convenience 

 to correspond with that of the sharks on page 86. It is 

 impossible to assign distinguishing characters to the rays 

 with any degree of satisfaction, for the colours, body tubercles, 

 teeth, and other characters of this group are subject to 

 considerable variation, and any attempt to establish constant 

 features must in many cases, more particularly in the typical 

 genus [Raia), end in failure. 



